Dallas City Hall expects to spend millions more on police officers in the coming fiscal year — money that will go toward increasing starting salaries, upping the pay of the existing ranks and filling the police and fire pension's depleted coffers. But none of that is expected to put more boots on the ground and refill the department's ever-diminishing ranks.

The ranks will remain around 3,050 officers for the foreseeable future — well below the peak of more than 3,600 a decade ago, according to the proposed budget city officials unveiled Friday.

In last year's budget, Dallas City Hall hoped to add 250 officers. That didn't happen. Police officers continue to worry they won't have backup.

Despite upping starting pay for police and Dallas Fire-Rescue workers to $51,688, Dallas is "continuing to see challenges in the area of police recruiting," said Jon Fortune, the assistant city manager over the Police Department.

The issue certainly isn't one of funding.

The proposed budget increases general-fund spending from $1.28 billion this year to $1.35 billion next year — and that includes the third tax rate cut in a row.

The proposal includes a property tax rate decrease of 1.54 cents, from 78.04 cents to 76.5 cents per $100 of home valuation. That would save the owner of a $200,000 house around $25 a year, after homestead exemptions.

The City Council will vote next month on the final budget.

Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax

(Andy Jacobsohn/Staff Photographer)

City Manager T.C. Broadnax and Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Reich said Friday that another rate cut is workable because of yet another sharp uptick in property tax revenue this year — to $130.1 billion, up almost 10 percent from last year's amount.

Reich said the proposed tax rate cut will cost the city about $20 million in lost revenue. But unlike Broadnax's predecessors, whose budgets had massive revenue shortfalls necessitating dramatic cuts, the city manager has presented a balanced budget.

"There is nothing in my proposed budget that gives me heartburn because we left it on the sidelines," he said. "There was no, 'My God, we can't do this because we have no money.' There are no big holes, because we mitigated that. There's not that kind of drama."

Trinity Watershed Management, which helped turn the Margaret McDermott Bridge into a debacle, will be imploded.

(Jae S. Lee/Staff Photographer)

Broadnax touted what he considered some of the highlights, among them:

• spending $125 million in general-fund and bond money to repair city streets

• getting Sanitation, Dallas Water Utilities and Public Works to collaborate on dangerous-alley repairs

• doubling the bike-lane budget to $1 million this year

• spending $1 million on "historically under-served areas at risk of displacement because of changing market conditions"

• using $2.3 million for Radio Frequency Identification throughout the Dallas Public Library system, which Broadnax said would better manage materials and let librarians actually "work the floor" again

• adding $2.3 million to "strengthen the homeless response system"

• putting more than $400,000 toward dealing with aggressive and dangerous dogs, mostly in South Dallas

• and setting aside money to take at least four City Council meetings "on the road" next calendar year.

Dallas is having to spend $5 million on school crossing guards, which was handled by Dallas County Schools until its dissolution this year.

(David Woo/Staff Photographer)

The city is also spending more than $5 million to operate the school crossing guard program, which was under the auspices of the now-dissolved Dallas County Schools. And in 2019 there will be a citywide mayoral election, which Broadnax said will cost $1.3 million.

The city manager said Friday he approached next year's budget with one question: "What kind of city do we want to be?"

The City Council will now spend the next several weeks debating the proposal and hosting town halls — including in District 4, whose council member until Thursday was Dwaine Caraway. Broadnax said he and his staff will attend those previously scheduled meetings.

"I am pleased they're going to roll the rate back and share some of this growth with the taxpayers," said Jennifer Staubach Gates, the northwest Dallas council member who chairs the Government Performance & Financial Management Committee. Gates said "there might be some tweaks" before its final approval, but "overall I have a good feeling about it."

Some Dallas police officers do not.

Dallas' new budget calls for adding $500,000 to the city's bike-lane budget every year for the next three years, until it's $2 million total per year.

(Tom Fox/Staff Photographer)

Almost 60 percent of the coming year's $1.35 billion general-fund budget is proposed for public safety: $478 million is earmarked for Dallas PD, while $287 million will go toward Dallas Fire-Rescue alone.

"We are making a statement that public safety is important," Broadnax said Friday.

He said every penny the city collects in property tax revenue goes toward public safety; so, too, does 17 percent of all sales tax collected in Dallas.

"When people talk about where their tax dollars go," Broadnax said, "they can make sure it's going to police and fire."

But Mike Mata, president of the Dallas Police Association, said he's already getting phone calls from rank-and-file members who are stunned this year's budget keeps staffing levels flat.

Officers, who have buried six of their own in the last two years, are overwhelmed by high stress and low morale, and now they are being told no one is coming to their rescue, he said.

"This whole idea we can still stay afloat and keep the citizens safe with 3,000 officers is unbelievable," Mata said. "And what makes me mad is T.C. won't be here five years from now, but the citizens will be, and the city will be in shambles."